Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Sweden Is A Backward, Authoritarian Land

Someone brought up Sweden recently. The socialist American media is biased in its reporting on Sweden so it is difficult to find factual information. You won't find it in the New York Times, written on the sixth grade level of the American left. A number of years ago Roland Hunter's book entitled The New Totalitarians described the suppressive nature of the Swedish government. In 2006 the sadly now-defunct New York Sun, commenting on the lies and propaganda that appeared in the Economist Intelligence Unit about Sweden, noted:

"Dissent is powerfully discouraged. In Sweden, whose murder rate is currently twice that of America...the Swedish press routinely depicts America as crime-ridden. Polls show that the majority of Swedes are deeply disturbed by their country's dramatic social changes and highly critical of the policies that brought them about. Yet the crime and violence generally go unreported, so only rarely does any of the criticism seep into the press."

In other words, Sweden is a country run like New York City, where lies are taken for truth and school children are indoctrinated in left wing propaganda (as in the New York City school system) and, I add, new ideas are forbidden.

Moreover, Sweden is not immune from the nationalist hatred and bigotry that frequently characterizes socialism:

"Instead of reporting on such worrisome findings, politicians and the press alike focus on the evils of America and Israel."

Similarly, the book publishing industry in Sweden serves as a mouthpiece for the authoritarian state:

"Swedish book publishing is similarly unbalanced. Recently Michael Moynihan, an American writer based in Stockholm, toted up the English-language political books that had been translated into Swedish since September 11. His long list included several works apiece by Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore, plus volumes by the communist historian Eric Hobsbawm, the anti-American journalist John Pilger, and the 'Holocaust industry' critic Norman Finkelstein. On the entire list, only one author was not a leftist."

There is only one independent television station, and the Swedish government has attacked it for failing to adopt the government's views:

"When voices of dissent do break through in Sweden, they're often punished. During the runup to the Iraq war, the Swedish government censured the independent TV channel TV4 for running an "Oprah" episode that presented both pro- and anti-war arguments. TV4 was charged with violating press-balance guidelines when in fact its offense was being too balanced — it had exposed Swedish viewers to ideas from which journalists had otherwise shielded them."

The opposition party, Sweden Democrats, are repeatedly attacked by the Swedish government and their speech suppressed:

"Earlier this year, for example, the government closed down the Sweden Democrats' Web site because it had published a cartoon of Muhammad. Stig Fredriksson, head of the free-speech organization Publicistklubben, complained bitterly. But the incident was hardly reported in Sweden — and, of course, barely caused a ripple abroad. If the Bush administration had closed down a Democratic Party Web site¸ there would be scare headlines and editorials thundering about dictatorship — and rightly so. But when Sweden's rulers did it, it was apparently acceptable — because they did it in the name of political correctness."

Opponents to the Swedish government's policies are routinely fired from their jobs:

"a few weeks ago, a junior diplomat was dismissed when it became known that he was a member of the party and had criticized his country's immigration policy. On several occasions, thugs loyal to the ruling parties have broken up Sweden Democratic meetings and beaten up party leaders. And this is a nation in which a party led by an admitted communist was, in recent memory, part of the ruling coalition."

Moreover:

"Swedish elections aren't really secret — other people at the polling place can look at your ballot and see which party you support."

I have not looked at Swedish banking practices but if the banking system is state controlled, I wonder how open to new and innovative ideas it might be. Sweden has never been an innovative country. Its industries are imitative. It is able to survive on small beer because it has a small population. Should the world adopt a Swedish model, suppression and stagnation would follow.

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Mitchell Langbert

About Me

I have researched and written about employee benefit issues and in my previous life was a corporate benefits administrator. I am currently associate professor of business at Brooklyn College. I hold a Ph.D. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, an MBA from UCLA and an AB from Sarah Lawrence College. I am working on a project involving public policy. I blog on academic and political topics.